Success!

It is the film no one is talking about right now, but I have a feeling once it premieres next week at the New York Film Festival, Inherent Vice will have the film world abuzz. Brilliant director Paul Thomas Anderson, the man behind such masterpieces as There Will Be Blood, The Master, and Magnolia, recently gave an interview to the New York Times, where he revealed some very interesting details about the film.
Inherent Vice tells the story of Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix), a hippy private detective who gets caught up in the seedy underworld of 1970s Los Angeles. It is based on the book by iconic author Thomas Pynchon. Phoenix stars alongside Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Josh Brolin, Martin Short, and Katherine Waterston.
Anderson has confirmed that he's made quite a radical change to a certain character - he has announced that Joanna Newsom (the wife of Andy Samberg) will be playing Sortilège, a friend of Doc's and a radical, acid-loving intellectual. Her role in the book is small but effective, but Anderson clearly has much bigger aspirations for the character, as he apparently increased her role so much that she is the narrator of the film. This is the first time Anderson has used a narrator since 1999, when Ricky Jay narrated Magnolia.
The second big piece of news is that Anderson has changed the ending of the story. The book has a beautiful, poignant ending, however it is one that is pretty much un-cinematic and wouldn't do this gonzo film justice. He has apparently written an entirely new ending that is much more radical and insane.
One would worry how the notoriously mercurial Pynchon would react to this - however, Anderson claims he and Pynchon worked very closely on the script, and nothing made it to the final edit unless it had been personally given the blessing by Pynchon himself. If it's good enough for the creative mind behind the story, then it's good enough for us.
Talking of Pynchon, Anderson was asked whether or not Pynchon would have a cameo in the film. Anderson did not confirm or deny this rumor, but recent developments and comments from the cast (including Josh Brolin mentioning how Pynchon was on the set but mostly "stayed in the corner") suggests that Pynchon might be set to make a cameo in the film. If he does, it will be one of the most hilariously sick jokes one could pull, as Pynchon has not had a public interview or photograph taken of himself since the 1950s. He could very well be in plain sight throughout the film, and we will never know.
Inherent Vice opens next Saturday, October 4th at the New York Film Festival, and has a limited release on December 12th before going wide on January 9th.